MORE BAD WEATHER ON THE WAY
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to day 25 of our voyage. The conditions today have remained relatively light with passing showers which has still allowed us to continue with some activities and a little normality (whatever that may be) onboard YE.
As highlighted in previous logs we have been handing over more of the responsibility of running the ship to the World Voyagers who continue to do a great job and I am sure are learning from the experience. Today this included the replacement of Chef Jenko in the galley and I have to say that our stand-in Chefs have done an amazing job with all of the meals served throughout the day. It has certainly been a gastronomical feast with our World Voyage Chefs impressing both Jenko and Marcos and all of the crew with their culinary skills.
The forecast overnight is for more gale force conditions so in preparation we have already reduced upper sail and have storm sails rigged ready to go. We do not believe that it will be as strong as we experienced earlier in the week but with only 5 days left until we reach Fremantle we want to ensure that we continue to be safe.
Currently we are located 780nm WSW of Fremantle motor sailing in light to moderate WSW winds which we expect to back to the south and strengthen to 35-40kts during the early hours of tomorrow morning.
Kindly volunteering to write tonight’s Captain’s Log is Tam and Josh C from Whitsunday’s Watch, please enjoy!!
Until tomorrow, take care
Yours Aye
Captain Gav
CAPTAIN’S LOG – 17 DEC 15
Good evening Young Endeavour fans!
Day 24 started quiet and uneventful with little wind and calm seas. The day revolved around food, pirate pseudonyms and the reappearance of aquatic mammals. We had a bit of excitement this morning with Whitsunday’s Watch on deck. Josh C alerted our naviguesser Evan to the first whale sighting for several days by screaming ‘WHALE, WHALE, WHALE’, which summoned our panicked naviguesser from the staffies briefing fearing some impending aquatic road kill. Thankfully this wasn’t the case. Whitsunday’s watch was somewhat depleted this morning, as three of the eight of us were preparing delicious food for the day (read on!). The rest of the watch for Whitsunday’s consisted of many brews for all, and as the wind picked up and those of us not in the galley lay aloft on the foremast to cast loose the course and topsail, leaving the topgallant for Hawaii Watch to tackle – we didn’t want to have all the fun.
Our resident wizard chef Juggernaut Jenko was stood down for the day, although he could be found cleaning the pantries. Breakfast this morning was prepared and lovingly delivered by Jamie, assisted by Claudia, Brig and Tam. Lunch was a burgers bonanza, with Nick J and Jack taking the lead and delivering the goods with some flipping incredible burgers (pun intended) with the help of our dishies for the day Grenfell, Jamie, and Hamish.
The guys and girls in the galley weren’t the only World Voyagers stepping up with added responsibilities: we currently have two sail masters from Tahiti Watch. Alice D, our mighty Caesar, would pipe us to our stations or wherever we needed to be, and Tim eerily channelled Kenny for morning brief; terrible jokes, grey beanie and stolen sunnies included. The happiest hour of the day followed to get Young Endeavour ship shape and sparkly.
With the impending return of Young Endeavour after a 12 month voyage around the world, the staffies and some of the World Voyagers have been doing a bit of preparation and maintenance to help us clear customs and quarantine swiftly, and everyone can make their flights to see their loved ones or holiday destinations.
The afternoon saw the final ropies for our current watches, with Hawaii triumphing over Tahiti and Whitsunday’s watches to receive their tall ship medallion prize. This did come at a cost, as Bec and Matt C had to break a tie by catching a pickled mushroom thrown into their mouths (the same one used repeatedly – so not sure who really won there…).
The Young Endeavour is full of some creative people at the moment. We have a choir on board who are recording a sea shanty to play as sound track to our End of Voyage photo slideshow. We’re certain it’ll be number 1 on the ARIA charts this Christmas. In addition to this the staffies and World Voyagers have all been assigned piratical pseudonyms and several of the world voyagers are currently writing an epic story of calamity never before seen in history! It’ll make Game of Thrones look like a Doctor Seuss book. It even has a map!
Our dinner this evening was a truly spectacular affair of Indian cuisine – with the café appropriately renamed ‘Indian on the Ocean’ (another pun for your enjoyment). At the helm of this gastronomic delight were Rebecca and Bec who created an incredible variety of beautiful curries and desserts. No visit to the galley was complete without visiting Bec’s condiment station (sometimes under a level of duress). With the assistance of the dishies, Rebecca and Bec delivered an incredible feed and must have been summoning their inner Jenkos to have produced such great food from that tiny metal box.
Currently we are back motor sailing, but with a front creeping up behind us and 40 knot winds predicted we are preparing the sails (some of the lighter wind rated sails have already been furled), and the storm sails are prepped ready to go. Its great getting to prepare now, so we don’t have to try to figure out which line is a halyard or a sheet as the ship pitches and rolls while it is squalling around us at 2am. It’ll be great to be back under sail again!
Finally, our two youngest Young Endeavour World Voyagers, Hamish and Rhianna, received emails today with their ATAR marks and both seemed very happy with their results! So we would like to extend to them our congratulations and best wishes for achieving these excellent results. Your World Voyager family is very proud of you!
Tam and Josh C – Whitsundays Watch
Shoutout
Thanks for the marks Mum. Xx. Super super happy. Rhianna
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Currently located 780nm WSW of Fremantle motor sailing in light to moderate WSW winds with a 2-3m SW swell. Our current speed is 7.5kts and the temperature is 13 degrees.
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Thank you Tarvi, Kaeden and Matt for your narrative of today's events. Intentions are to remain at anchor in Hunters Bay, just off HMAS Penguin, home of the RAN Diving School, a place close to my heart, having spent many a day there under training as a young Officer! The plan is to weigh anchor and proceed to HMAS Waterhen, in Waverton, to pick up our Community Day Sailors from the Windgap Foundation and take them for a sail around the harbour for 3 hours. The Youth Crew will help us host our visitors and give them an experience of Young Endeavour. We will drop them back to Waverton and then proceed to anchor in the harbour where we will have a good view of the Bridge and the Opera House for the Youth Crew's last night onboard. Until tomorrow. Yours Aye, Captain Mike